tire time

[Curt Van Weelden]

According to the owners manual, after two years I am supposed to replace the brake, cooling, and shock fluid. Is this really neccessary? How many are doing this? How do you dispose of brake fluid and coolant? Curt

[Jeff Saline]

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:43:36 -0000 "Curt Van Weelden" writes:

> According to the owners manual, after two years I am supposed to > replace the brake, cooling, and shock fluid. Is this really > necessary? How many are doing this? How do you dispose of brake > fluid and coolant? > > Curt

<><><><><><> <><><><><><> Curt, I'd say yes replacing the fluids is necessary. I for one am doing that. Brake fluid is taken to a local Midas shop where I ask them to dispose of the small amount of waste brake fluid from a motorcycle. Never any issue for me and no cost. My local country waste management folks say to put less than a gallon of coolant in a leak free container filled with cat litter or sand. Let it soak in and then put it in the garbage. You may be able to find a local place that will take the coolant and recycle it. My local Checker Auto Parts store takes waste engine oil for free. They do not want anything mixed with it like coolant or brake fluid. I respect that request. Brake fluid will absorb moisture which is bad for a couple of reasons. It will lower the boiling point of the brake fluid. Boiling will involve gasses and that will involve a soft lever feel. It will allow the moisture to contact the insides of the brake system for extended periods of time. The moisture will cause corrosion if left in the system. Last week I spent sometime resleeving a master cylinder from a motorcycle that was 29 years old. The bore of the cylinder was corroded in an area about the size of a dime. It had an internal leak at the primary seal. Cost of a new master cylinder for this bike is about $460. I spent my time and about $1.50 in materials on the repair. Yearly brake fluid changes would have prevented this problem. Other places the moisture might collect is at the lowest point in a caliper. Once a caliper is corroded it will probably either stick or leak. I don't recall ever hearing of resleeving a caliper on anything. I can usually change brake fluid in a KLR in about 20 minutes front and rear. The coolant is used to transfer heat to the radiator where it can be transferred to the air passing over the radiator. It has additives that are corrosion preventers. As they get old and used the opportunities for corrosion to begin or expand in the cooling system increase. A corroded cooling system will be less effective than a well maintained cooling system. Additionally head gaskets are often attacked by old/ineffective or contaminated coolant. Changing the coolant no more than every two years gives your engine a good opportunity for effective heat transfer and long life. Suspension fluids work in a pretty tough environment. Lots of heat is generated with the moving parts and flow of the fluid throughout the system. The fluid has anti foaming and corrosion agents and also is formulated to protect the metal to metal contact and reduce stiction. It gets very dirty with use and with the wear of the suspension components. It also breaks down in use. Flushing is a good start but folks would often be surprised if they opened a set of forks after flushing and saw all the gunk that remains. I changed my fork oil the first time at about 15,000 miles. I did a complete teardown and assembly just to make sure I got the gunk out. This is well worth the effort. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT

[ocpianoman]

Depends on what state you're in. If you're going to pay shipping you don't want to pay tax too. I like parts411.com because they're 3 miles from my house and I can have items will called for $5 and save on shipping - but still have to pay 8.25% CA sales tax. or: http://www.mawonline.com/ I like their prices on Prog. fork springs or there's several eBay stores: http://stores.ebay.com/JC-Motors-Motorcycle-Accessories_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm is one. Just search eBay motors for motorcycle tires, you'll find tons. Narrow your search by using a partial size: "90/90" or just "21" for fronts, or "130/80" or "5.10" for rear. Then there's good old Google. Search for motorcycle tires and you'll get a tone of results.

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, wrote: > > > The D607s are coming off and will be replaced with TKC80s. Any suggestions for the best place to order these tires and some heavy duty tubes? The local Kawasaki dealer had never heard of TKC80s... > > Thanks, > > Steve > A13 >